Canes and Bruins Kick Off Season Series in Raleigh

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Canes and Bruins Kick Off Season Series in RaleighBoston Bruins vs. Carolina Hurricanes

BRUINS (12-6-1) at HURRICANES (8-8-4)

TV: NESN, FS-CR

Last 10: Boston 5-4-1; Carolina 4-5-1

Season series: This is the first of three games this season. The Boston Bruins won the 2012-13 season series against the Carolina Hurricanes with a 2-1-0 record.

Big story: The Hurricanes have been very strong at home recently with nine out of a possible 12 points in their past six games at PNC Arena, but the status of forward Alexander Semin was unclear as of Sunday. The right wing left the game Saturday against the St. Louis Blues with an upper-body injury. Boston continues its three-game road trip Monday and will look to avoid a fourth straight road loss.

Team Scope:

Bruins: What has kept Boston from owning the top spot in the Eastern Conference is the inconsistent play away from home. While the Bruins opened the season with a perfect 4-0-0 road record, they have since dropped three straight outside of TD Garden.

"I thought we had a good start this year on the road,” coach Claude Julien told the Boston Globe following practice Sunday. “We won our first four. We’ve slipped since then. We’ve got to pick up our game here on the road. It’s not going to get any easier. It’s only going to get tougher. So we need some quality play from our hockey club.”

Hurricanes: Carolina is averaging less than two goals a game, so it cannot afford to lose Semin, who was tied with injured forward Jeff Skinner (upper body) for third on the team's scoring list with nine points (3 g, 6 a).

The Hurricanes might be struggling to find the back of the net, but they did accomplish a rare feat in a 4-2 loss to the Blues on Saturday. Carolina got back-to-back shorthanded goals by captain Eric Staal and forward Nathan Gerbe to tie the game, which was the first time the Blues gave up two goals on the same power play since Oct. 8, 1992. But a third-period goal by the Blues' Alexander Steen, the current NHL leader in goals and points, would stand as the game winner.

"It stung getting scored on in the third," said Hurricanes goalie Justin Peters. "[Steen] came down and made a good shot."

Who's Hot: Loui Eriksson is in the midst of a five-game point streak for Boston with two goals and four assists ... Peters is 3-1-1 in his past five starts for Carolina with a 1.60 goals-against average.

Injury Report: For the Bruins, defenseman Adam McQuaid missed the past three games with a lower-body injury and is questionable for Monday. ... Besides the questionable status for Semin, the Hurricanes are without goalies Cam Ward and Anton Khudobin (both on injured reserve with lower-body injuries), as well as Skinner. Forward Radek Dvorak (lower body) missed the past two games for Carolina and is questionable, as is forward Kevin Westgarth (upper body), who has missed the past eight games.